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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Maya de Jong, an eighteen-year-old country girl from the West, comes to live in Melbourne and starts an affair with her boss, the enigmatic Maynard Flynn, whose wife is dying of cancer. When Maya's parents, Toni and Jacob, arrive to stay with her, they are told by her housemate that Maya has gone away and no one knows where she is.
'As Toni and Jacob wait and search for Maya in Melbourne, everything in their lives is brought into question. They recall the yearning and dreams, the betrayals and choices of their pasts - choices with unexpected and irrevocable consequences.
'With Maya's disappearance, the lives of all those close to her come into focus, to reveal the complexity of the ties that bind us to one another, to parents, children, siblings, friends and lovers.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: For my family
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
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The Silver Age of Fiction
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 70 no. 4 2011; (p. 110-115)‘In human reckoning, Golden Ages are always already in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod, in Works and Days, posited Five Ages of Mankind: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic and Iron (Ovid made do with four). Writing in the Romantic period, Thomas Love Peacock (author of such now almost forgotten novels as Nightmare Abbey, 1818) defined The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) in which their order was Iron, Gold, Silver and Bronze. To the Golden Age, in their archaic greatness, belonged Homer and Aeschylus. The Silver Age, following it, was less original, but nevertheless 'the age of civilised life'. The main issue of Peacock's thesis was the famous response that he elicited from his friend Shelley - Defence of Poetry (1821).’ (Publication abstract)
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Joan London, The Good Parents
2010
single work
review
essay
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 4 2010; (p. 42-43)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel'The Good Parents (2008) is Joan London’s second novel. Her published works include two collections of short stories, Sister Ship (1986) awarded with the Age Book of the Year, and Letter to Constantine (1993), winner of the Steele Rudd Award and Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Fiction. Her first novel, Gilgamesh (2001), also won the Age Book of the Year for Fiction in 2002. With these credentials, one expects to find in The Good Parents a fine novel, and London does not disappoint us.' (Introduction)
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Overflow
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23-24 October 2010; (p. 23) -
The Country and the City
2009
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 3 2009; (p. 3-9) 'This is an unorthodox presentation, but one I hope that goes to the heart of some of the larger myths of contemporary Australia and the appeal still found in its pioneering spirit. It was inspired, after reading Joan London's new novel The Good Parents and thinking back to my own experiences of country towns in Australia, and my recent encounters with towns in transition.' Source: Terri-Ann White. -
WA Authors Vie for PM's Prize
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 September 2009; (p. 5)
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Finding the Strange in the Familiar
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , April vol. 3 no. 3 2008; (p. 5-6)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel -
Subtly Pondering the Essence of Human Goodness
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 5 April 2008; (p. 13)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel -
Journeys in Search of the Self
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19-20 April 2008; (p. 10)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel -
Taking the Option to Vanish
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 25-26 April 2008; (p. 25)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel -
A Wealth of Understanding for Families That Never Set
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3-4 May 2008; (p. 28-29)
— Review of The Good Parents 2008 single work novel -
The A-Z of Joan London
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 5 April 2008; (p. 26-27) The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 April 2008; (p. 28-29) -
The Face : Joan London : Novelist
2008
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 September 2008; (p. 3) -
WA Authors Vie for PM's Prize
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 September 2009; (p. 5) -
Overflow
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23-24 October 2010; (p. 23) -
The Country and the City
2009
single work
autobiography
— Appears in: Coolabah , no. 3 2009; (p. 3-9) 'This is an unorthodox presentation, but one I hope that goes to the heart of some of the larger myths of contemporary Australia and the appeal still found in its pioneering spirit. It was inspired, after reading Joan London's new novel The Good Parents and thinking back to my own experiences of country towns in Australia, and my recent encounters with towns in transition.' Source: Terri-Ann White.
Awards
- 2009 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction
- 2009 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — People's Choice Award
- 2009 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- 2009 shortlisted Barbara Jefferis Award
- 2009 shortlisted South East Asia and South Pacific Region — Best Book
- Melbourne, Victoria,